Remote-controlled car: Now James Bond-size – if not speed (VIDEO)
James Bond’s remote-controlled car from the film “Tomorrow Never Dies” has become a reality. Land Rover has presented the prototype of a car that can be driven with an app on a smartphone.
The Remote Control Range Rover Sport is a system which enables a driver to steer a car from a short distance by controlling steering, accelerator, braking and gears. The video shows that a driver just touches a screen on his smartphone and that is enough for maneuvers on a mud-locked road.
But you will hardly speed away in a James Bond-style – there are still many limitations for using this technology. A remote-control car cannot currently go faster than 4 miles per hour (about 6.5 km an hour) and the app will not work if a driver with a smartphone stands more than 10 meters from the car. If he or she is standing farther away the car will stop automatically.
This system allows a car to be driven remotely when there is a danger that obstacles on the road cannot be seen from the driver’s seat. Another situation when remote control can help a motorist is parking – for example, when cars are parked close to each other and a driver has difficulty getting into his or her car.
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In the same promo, Land Rover shows one more driverless technology – so called “Multi-Point Turn Range Rover Sport.” It allows a car to maneuver through 180 degrees with the system controlling gear selection, steering, braking and acceleration. Unlike The Remote Control Range Rover Sport, this system does not need even nonstop distant manipulation – a driver just needs to give a command and it will do everything itself.
This is not the first technology for remote control cars, but the previous ones gave opportunities only to lock/unlock cars or to start the engine – for instance, the KIA Remoto system. There is also a technology called Audi Piloted Parking which enabled a car to park without a driver. But to control an auto remotely with a smartphone device was earlier only the privilege of Agent 007.
This Range Rover prototype can be driven by a smartphone app http://t.co/tmNlopXyyvpic.twitter.com/BqgMvcQREF
— TechCrunch (@TechCrunch) 17 июня 2015
Phone-controlled Range Rover helps you get out of a jam http://t.co/dvn8PZxcVV
— Lavada Chim (@Lavadaxs96) 16 июня 2015
Our Remote Control Range Rover Sport demonstrates how a motorist could drive the vehicle, via smartphone pic.twitter.com/4AxzQfGmzZ
— Jaguar Land Rover (@JLRPR) 16 июня 2015
